A number of horse owners both in the Virgin Islands and in the neighbouring United States Virgin Islands believe that the track surface at Ellis Thomas Downs in Sea Cows Bay has not been getting the maintenance that it needs and thus posed a potential danger to horses. Photo: VINO/File

They were speaking to this news site in the wake of comments that Minister for Education and Culture Honourable Myron V. Walwyn made in the House of Assembly last week during the continuation of the Sixth Sitting of the First Session of the Third House of Assembly. Photo: VINO/File

Virgin Islands horse owner Lesmore Smith. Photo: VINO/File

Family Affair Racing Stables' Alex V. Lake (extreme left). Photo: VINO/File

Violet 'Letty' Delville Hodge. Photo: VINO/File

Break Up The Game. Photo: VINO/File

Doughmaker. Photo: VINO

Really Uptown. Photo: VINO/File

They were speaking to this news site in the wake of comments that Minister for Education and Culture Honourable Myron V. Walwyn made in the House of Assembly last week during the continuation of the Sixth Sitting of the First Session of the Third House of Assembly.

“The other day, Patsy C. Lake brought a gentleman here to look at the horse track and the running surface to see how we could improve it... and there was talk of possibly expanding the track which we will discuss at the appropriate time. We had our own people talking how bad the track surface was,” said Minister Walwyn speaking in the House of Assembly on February 4, 2016 under Any Other Business.

“And the man came down from Kentucky and walked the track. I thought he would have said the track needs x amount of millions or thousands to fix. The man said not a thing is wrong with this track,” the Minister said.

Track needs daily maintenance

Lesmore Smith said what the track needs more than anything else is maintenance.

“When you talk about rehabilitation, proper maintenance will show the areas that need rehabilitation…a lil shaving or trimming…a lil removal of something. With maintenance you would see that,” he said.

He said the association is working on its own and also with an external company to make sure that the track is dampened every day and also raked every day. “Everyday maintenance is better for the track. The more you keep it preserved the better it is maintained as the horses practice every day,” he said.

He said Minister for Natural Resources and Labour Dr The Honourable Kedrick D. Pickering (R7) has made available to the association a tractor which they use to till the track.

Smith said that the tract has access to a water truck and a water pump has just been purchased to be attached to the truck so that it could become functional and wet the track on a daily basis.

Smith did acknowledge that the conditions of the track may play a part in the horses hurting themselves if not maintained properly. “At the end of the day we maintain the track because we don’t know for a fact that the track is responsible. What we have to do is maintain the track so that there are no allegations of anything,” he said.

Speaking of the visit by a track expert recently, Smith said that the person was of the opinion that all the track needed was constant maintenance as it was found to have the best soil mixture on the surface which the man deemed suitable for horse racing.

Alex V. Lake also expressed concern over the maintenance of the track.

“It has to be a concern for any horse owner at any track. If you’re not up-keeping the track your horses could stumble and fall into holes, they could fall on rocks and damage themselves,” Lake said.

Recently, ill favour has been following long time horse owner Violet ‘Letty’ Delville Hodge, whose latest casualty was Doughmaker which broke both front legs and had to be euthanised following the Boxing Day races held on December 27, 2015. Speed ace Really Uptown and Lake Texoma were notable horses from L&B Stables that were put down after breaking legs while running at Ellis Thomas Downs.

Ms Delville-Hodge had blamed "poor surface" of the track for her horses' injuries.

For the past four days all attempts to reach Mrs Delville-Hodge proved futile.

St Thomas horse owners displeased with track

St Thomas' Break Up The Game had been put to sleep following an injury picked up in the August 4, 2015 Premier’s Cup race at Ellis Thomas Downs. Champion horse Bud White of St Thomas had damaged a sesamoidean ligament in his left foreleg during the feature race of the pre-Father’s Day card at Ellis Thomas Downs on June 2, 2013 and was put to sleep days after.

Speaking to this news site, St Croix horse owner James Bates said there have been a few times when he and other horse owners came to Tortola and were displeased with the condition of the track.

“The track was not being maintained properly. We came up to run just this January and they were doing maintaining the track. I am not an expert to say what is wrong with the track but we run our horses without any injuries on the track,” said Bates in an interview with this news site yesterday.

He said that on a previous occasion, in August 2015, he and other owners from St Thomas had to talk with the Virgin Islands Horse Owners’ Association to tell them that the track needed to be tilled and maintained properly for them to exercise their horses and to run on it. “But we had just come in a few days before so we did not have to do much exercise on it,” he said.

Ellis Thomas Downs could be better maintained

Speaking to this news site yesterday, Racing Secretary for the St Thomas Horse Racing Association Kareem ‘Pogo’ Thompson said that there are always stories and theories about the horse track.

“Horses could go down on any track. I think Tortola’s track could be maintained a little better but to me I does hear people bawling that the surface too deep…but ain’t all the surfaces in the States the same either. Some tracks have on more sand than some,” he said.